HC Deb 11 June 1975 vol 893 cc206-7W
Mr. Stallard

asked the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland what the security forces in Northern Ireland have done to combat the problem of sectarian assassinations.

Mr. Merlyn Rees

Sectarian assassination is a much abused term in Northern Ireland. It should be restricted to cases where there is knowledge—not just suspicion—that a member of one community is killed by a member of the other community for purely sectarian reasons.

"Inter factional" is the term applied to murders within one or other community for reasons connected with the security situation. In practice this means that until a case has been cleared it is impossible to be certain whether the murder was carried out by a member of the other community. A murder which may appear to be sectarian could turn out in fact to be a "disciplinary" killing. Again, the motive of the murder may have been basically criminal—for example, to pay off old debts under the cloak of sectarian strife. Identification of killings falling within the category of "sectarian murder" must, therefore, always be tentative until police investigations are completed and charges made.

Furthermore, sectarian murders are connected with all the other security problems in Northern Ireland and it is difficult to relate the security forces' successes solely to the problems of sectarian violence. For example, a man arrested for possessing illegal firearms may be a potential or past sectarian killer or may be intending to act against the security forces.

The first set of figures itemised below deals with identified sectarian murders. Forty-five cases of sectarian murders since 1st January 1972 have led to charges being made; 35 out of the 45 have been dealt with so far. As a consequence:

  1. (a) 28 persons—24 Protestants and four Roman Catholics—have been convicted of murder in 21 of the 35 cases;
  2. (b) five persons—three Protestants and two Roman Catholics—have been convicted of manslaughter in three of the 35 cases;
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  3. (c) two charges of murder were not proceeded with as the accused had already received a sentence of life imprisonment;
  4. (d) two cases ended in acquittals;
  5. (e) seven cases had to be withdrawn.

Further evidence of recent successes of the security forces is provided by the statistics of charges for terrorist type offences other than murder. During the period 1st January to 9th June 1975, 52 attempted murder charges, 199 firearms charges, 35 explosive charges, 131 theft charges and 45 other security type charges were made. During this period, 150 "travelling gunmen", i.e., people carrying illegal weapons, have been apprehended. To deal with these activities both the Army and RUC have increased their forces in the relevant areas, their patrolling along sectarian interfaces and the checking of individuals and cars, and the RUC have redeployed more detectives to Dungannon and Belfast.

All these figures show a creditable performance given the immense volume of other crimes. It is particularly creditable in that it represents charges to be brought before the courts—not interim custody orders issued under the Emergency Provisions Act. The performance would be even better if more people would come forward and support the police with more information. More public support will mean more charges and convictions. Successful convictions before the courts is the best way to stamp out these murders and punish those who have committed them.